Mazzulla reveals origin of Celtics “World Tour” T-shirts in Abu Dhabi originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The reigning NBA champions have taken their act overseas — and they’re already making a fashion statement.
The Boston Celtics landed in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday to begin preparation for two exhibition games against the Denver Nuggets later this week in the capital of the United Arab Emirates. But there was no rest for the C’s after their 13-hour flight, as they immediately headed to NYU Abu Dhabi to host a coaching clinic.
Joe Mazzulla was a popular man at the clinic, partly because of his choice of clothing: The Celtics head coach rocked a custom “2024-25 World Tour” T-shirt that listed Abu Dhabi among every city his team will visit during the 2024-25 campaign.
Mazzulla explained the origins of the T-shirts on Wednesday, explaining to our Chris Forsberg that they were the brainchild of Celtics director of operations Art Horne.
World Tour T-shirt that Joe Mazzulla wore in Abu Dhabi was designed by director of team development Art Horne.
Mazzulla: “It’s a really great idea. Distributes them at the beginning of the year. He’s doing a great job just tying into the season. So that was really cool.” pic.twitter.com/Jdy5ltWxn2
– Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) 2 October 2024
“I think it’s a really cool idea, so we ran them at the beginning of the year. He does a great job of just tying (things) into the season, so that was really cool,” Mazzulla said.
Horne, who has been with the Celtics since the 2017-18 season, brought the jersey design to Mazzulla about two weeks ago and received a lot of positive feedback.
“Art works in the offseason just on a couple of different messaging things,” Mazzulla said. “He does a great job with that.”
The Celtics don’t play until Friday, but their schedule was full on their first day: Mazzulla and Derrick White were at Abu Dhabi’s Reem Central Park to witness. the inauguration of a special Celtic-themed court. White even played a game of knockout — which ended with Mazzulla celebrating when the Celtics guard lost.
Game 1 of Celtics-Nuggets in Abu Dhabi is set for Friday at 12 pm ET. NBC Sports Boston will broadcast the game live and begin coverage at 11:30 am ET with a special edition of Celtics Pregame Live.
Game 2 will be Sunday, October 6 at 10 a.m. ET, with pregame coverage beginning at 9:30 a.m. ET on NBC Sports Boston.
